Locks are frequently employed in modern motor vehicles for locking front hoods opening in driving direction and are known from practice. The rotary latch of the known lock is preloaded into the release position of the closing part. If, starting out from the position of the rotary latch holding the closing part, the locking pawl is removed from the rotary latch the rotary latch moves into the position releasing the closing part. After this the front hood can be opened.
Disadvantageous with the known lock, however, is that in the event of a crash of the motor vehicle the locking pawl can be separated from the rotary latch. This subsequently leads to an undesirable opening of the front hood. The separation of the locking pawl from the rotary latch mostly occurs through a deformation of the lock case, as a result of which the components can for instance be tilted against each other. In this case, the rotary latch is no longer reliably supported by the locking pawl.
One could think about stiffening or providing the locking case with guides for the rotary latch and the locking pawl so as to prevent a separation of the rotary latch from the locking pawl during a crash of the motor vehicle. Such stiffeners or guides however lead to an increase of the constructional expenditure of the lock. Furthermore, the lock case can still be deformed in the event of a particularly severe crash and separation of the rotary latch from the locking pawl can nevertheless occur because of this.
In view of the foregoing, it is desirable to develop a lock of the type mentioned at the outset so that it can be particularly easily produced and makes possible a high level of protection against separation of the locking pawl from the rotary latch. In addition, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.